This episode will see Team USA forged in the world-famous Octagon but things don’t start well as Jason Pierce faints, much like Phillipe Nover did in last season’s TUF 8 – only this time they think it might be because he had a difficult time cutting weight. Well I guess we should be thankful that he made the effort to make it because once again another fighter has dusted his chances of fighting in the UFC by missing weight.

Things don’t get better, they get worse as John Shackelford gets sent home by the doctors after discovering he has the herpes virus. Herpes is definitely bad, what actually might be worse is yet another fighter kicked off the show for missing weight. Yes, it is season 9 and this is still happening - this time it is Christian Fulgium who collapses while cutting weight and rightfully gets booted from the show. The fact that this is still happening is embarrassing for the fighters who get booted, and for the UFC itself which seems to be choosing the wrong people for their TV show.

On to the fights.

Mark Miller (10-4) vs. Kevin Knabjian (10-3-1)

Mark Miller and Kevin Knabjian are forced to face off to secure a spot on the TV show and neither of them appear particularly excited about it because they are actually training partners. Visions of Pete Williams vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka are dancing  in my head but thankfully this isn’t that bad of a fight.

They step into it and despite a tentative start Mark Miller appears to be the aggressor  landing the crisper combinations and getting off first. He has the sharper stand up of the two competitors and takes the first round 10-9 on the strength of a number of solid combinations that don’t do an enormous amount of damage  - but score none-the-less.

Knabjian turns things around quickly landing a nice three punch combination that drops his teammate to the canvas and he follows up with some solid ground and pound. Inexplicably Knabjian gives up position to go for a heelhook which he doesn’t hit and It proves to be a costly mistake as Miller recovered and eventually unleashed a flurry that finished his friend to secure himself a spot in the house.

Knabjian didn’t like the stoppage and brushes off Miller who came to console him, and he goes on to punch a hole in the wall of his dressing room where a picture of Chuck Liddell stands…

Back at the Octagon Dan Henderson looks over to Dana White and says “Dana White, the wrecker of friendships.”

Richie Whitson (4-0) Vs. Paul Bird (4-1)

Dan Henderson tells Dana White that Whitson is a “scrappy” kid and now trains with him  in Temecula, California, but he gets taken down early in the fight even giving his back and things looked bleak for Henderson’s pupil. Paul Bird controlled the early action but Whitson rallied to get back to his feet and pushed hard  to keep his opponent at bay throwing wild punches forcing an ill-timed takedown by Bird that was easily stuffed. Whitson went to work from the top dominating with elbows and punches until he broke him down and eventually secured the rear naked choke.

Waylon Lowe (5-2) vs. Santino Difranco (13-4)

Dana White explains that Santino Difranco actually made the cast of TUF 2 but couldn’t continue because they found a brain aneurysm that forced him out of the show. Following surgery he is back, and appear s to be the feel-good story of the show.

It probably didn’t feel too good for him in the early goings as Lowe dominated Difranco taking him to the ground and absolutely punishing him to the point where the referee could have stopped the fight. For most of the first round Difranco offered little defense and ate dozens of punches and elbows to the head along the way. He got absolutely battered  but the referee choose to let it go to the end of the round and to be honest I was uncertain whether Difranco could continue,  even Dana White comments “he ain’t getting up.”

For better or for worse he proves us both wrong and gets back up, albeit slowly. Not only does he get back to the feet he quickly recovers in between rounds, lands a big knee to the face that stuns Lowe right off the opening bell, secures the back, and gets the rear naked choke submission to pull off a huge come-from-behind victory. Like I said, Difranco appears to be the feel-good story of TUF 9.

Jason Pierce vs. Steve Berger?

After fainting making weight, Piarce faces off against a man that looks to me like Steve Berger. Unless I missed something, I didn’t see his name on the TUF 9 cast release and it is surprising to me if he is on the show because Berger has 2 fights in the UFC under his belt already! Could it be a another Berger? I honestly don’t know. In any case, Pierce is able to win a three-round decision victory in what appears to be a close bout, but I don’t know for sure because  only a few clips of the fight are shown.

Cameron Dollar (4-1) vs. Tom Hayden (4-0)

In another fight that is not shown in it’s entirety, it appears that Hayden dominates almost the entire fight and makes a mistake late in the fight that costs him the fight. Dollar is able to sneak out the back and get the rear naked choke victory in a come-from-behind victory that Dana White describes while a few clips are shown.

Demarques Johnson (13-6) vs. Ray Elbe (20-11)

Elbe comes out looking rather lethargic and Johnson appears a little stronger firing off combinations over the fighter that now trains out of Thailand. Elbe goes for a takedown but gets stuffed and Johnson moves right to the mount off the sprawl. Not a transition I see a whole lot in the UFC but I digress… From there Johnson puts on an elbowing clinic  that Elbe has no answer for. Elbe looks lost on his back and gets absolutely mauled by Johnson in a lopsided fight.

The six bouts are now over and but there are two fighters who haven’t fought yet because their prospective opponents were dropped from the show before they could fight so they bring in… (wait for it) Rob Browning, Junie Browning’s younger brother. I guess the UFC didn’t get enough Browning the first time around so they are going back for seconds.  In the last Team USA bout Kiel Reid will fight Frank Lesler (Spelling?) who is also brought in on short notice.

Next Week

The Americans get their final two fighters and Rob Browning appears to be a little wild like his brother getting into it immediately with his TUF-mates. Vomiting, fighting, hooliganism, it is all back for a ninth time on the Ultimate Fighter 9. Sounds like it could be…the same.